As recently as ten years ago, London still did not have a fair for contemporary art. That would be unthinkable today for the international art scene: ever since its premiere in 2003, the Frieze Art Fair quickly grew to become one of the most important trading posts for young art worldwide. Deutsche Bank has been continuously supporting the fair as its main sponsor for the past eight years. The success story of the fair, which pitches its tents every October for five days in Regent’s Park, extends to this year as well: more galleries than ever before have applied; 175 galleries from 33 countries are represented this time around, presenting work by over 1,000 contemporary artists. Newcomers from Asia and South America augment a strong contingent from Europe and the USA. In Frame, the section for young galleries, 21 of 25 participants are newcomers. Testifying to Frieze’s confidence is not least the fact that it has initiated two new fairs for 2012: in London Frieze Masters, which will show 20th-century art from a contemporary perspective, and the first Frieze New York with contemporary work, which will take place in Randall’s Island Park in Manhattan. Beginning in 2012, Deutsche Bank will be main sponsor of all three Frieze art fairs. At the same time, the expansion of the partnership carries the bank’s global commitment to art further as it cooperates with one of the most promising young art fairs on the American continent after supporting Art Hong Kong in Asia as head sponsor.

The fair owes its vitality and strength not least to its ambitious supporting program. This year, for instance, important protagonists of the art scene such as John Bock, Daniel Buren, Taryn Simon, and Franz Erhard Walther will be taking part in the Talks. Along with films and concerts, the Frieze Projects are a particular highlight. These commissioned works subversively address individual aspects of Frieze—the market, the happenings at the fair, the manner in which the art is presented. Thus, an aquarium designed by Pierre Huyghe creates a counterpoint to the busy happenings at the fair, while Christian Jankowski adapts one of the fair booths in cooperation with a maker of luxury yachts to create a sales counter for a motor yacht that is declared to be one of the artist’s works. Peles Empire, which won the Deutsche Bank Award in 2009, is also part of the project series. The two women artists are installing a bar conceived as a gesamtkunstwerk in the fair tents.

Deutsche Bank will also, of course, be present at Frieze. In its VIP Lounge, it will introduce three artists from Eastern Europe: the Slovakian conceptual artist Roman Ondak, who frustrates the public’s expectations and playfully questions the relationships people have to their environment with subtle humor, and Nedko Solakov, whose humor is much darker. The Bulgarian artist likes to sabotage collective truths and the social status quo. And the Macedonian artist Yane Calkowski explores what has remained of the ambitious projects of Modernism. It will certainly be exciting again this year: Deutsche Bank will announce the winner of its "Artist of the Year" 2012 award at Frieze.